A bit late, but we’ve officially launched the first version of our operating system, Blueocean. Currently, it’s a place where founders can apply for a CFEA via the application form, and for us to be able to easily analyse startups in one centralised location. In this article, we’ll show you how this system works, and what kinds of answers we generally prefer in each question or section.
If you prefer to watch the video to understand how we work, watch below. If you prefer step by step visual instructions, then read on!
Step 1: Create an account. Should be pretty straightforward here.
Once you sign up, you should receive an email that looks like this. Make sure to confirm your email address.
Afterwards, click on the link above and login via this page right here.
Once logged in, you should be taken to our application page, which reads in several stages. The first two sections are pretty straightforward- insert your name and your Linkedin profile. This Linkedin profile is useful for allowing our team to be able to reach out to you faster. On the UK/EU Citizen/Permanent Resident thing: while it’s usually better if you are either one of the above, us and Stepex should have the ability to take those of you on a UK startup/talent visa of sorts.
Over here, you want to mention your startup name, website, sector (s), and logo.
How much funding are you seeking from us? Currently we are only handing out 10-20K cheques for the time being.
How much are you raising in total for this round? Usually, our sweet spot is anyone raising a friends and family/pre-seed round below £500,000 in total.
What will you use this money for? Be transparent on how you will use this money. These may be things we might ask you a little more during the interview though- so you will need to understand how to justify your proposed spendings.
What stage are you at, idea or pre-seed? This question is to help us understand where you are at to help us adjust expectations if needed. This also parlays onto the next question- if you are at idea stage, we expect a lean canvas showing how you’ve validated that your target customer will give up “skin in the game points” for your idea. If you are at pre-seed stage, we want to see a simple, easy to read pitch deck that details your vision, problem, target market, solution, customer demand (with skin in the game metrics like email waiting list, phone number, letters of intent, pre-orders), revenue model, competition, opportunity, team and ask.
Link to demo: If you have any materials that supplement your deck (eg. showing a potential prototype, or even sending some samples of a product if it’s a consumer goods product, etc.) it always helps your case. However, this is not a requirement for you to be considered by us.
What problem are you solving & why? Convince us why we should be just as passionate about your problem space as you are. After all- the number one reason why people don’t succeed in their business endeavours is because they are building stuff that people don’t really need.
What’s the solution? What’s new about what you are making? Convince us why you are building the right solution to the right problem. For instance: don’t tell us you are solving the problem of “orange juice tastes bad” with a product called “Better than Orange Juice.” Orange juice tastes perfectly fine the way it is.
How did you hear about us? Let us know where you first encountered our application! This helps us to know which platforms to focus more of our energies on.
I have read and agreed to Horizan VC Terms of Use. Yes.
I understand that any investment in my company will be guaranteed against my personal future earnings, either through the business or other external work if the company is dissolved. This is important- make sure you understand our terms before signing. To note: the FEA/ISA is to the founder (and stays until the qualifying round) and the ASA/SAFE is to the company. Terms are here.
Once you are done, submit your application where it’ll automatically get uploaded to our team’s admin dashboard.
This is our team’s admin dashboard. To break down the elements:
Screening and Scoring: When a startup first gets uploaded to Blueocean, it lands in these categories. This is where we do our preliminary review and decided whether or not a founder should go to interview. See this link for more details on how we score.
Initial Interview: If we feel sufficiently intrigued by a startup and it passes our initial IC, we schedule an initial call with them. During this call, we will do a deeper dive into the founder’s abilities and skillsets, as well as pick out potential holes in the pitch deck and overall startup concept. We typically send this out through a “YouCanBookMe” link, and usually are on Weds afternoons. Note: if you try to book an interview with us, and we see that we have not spoken to you beforehand, we will cancel the interview!
Review: Once we finish interviewing you (and have taken detailed notes), we will reconvene with our team during IC and decide if we want to either take it forward, reject it, or take it for further Deep Dive/Due Diligence. Most of the time, it’ll be one of the first two decisions, but sometimes we’ll take it to Deep Dive if we want to look into the technology a bit more.
Deep Dive- Sometimes a second interview, IRL demo, or IRL store/stand visit if you are selling physical products. This can help us make a more informed decision on certain types of startups.
Due Dil- This is the stage that we take once the team decides we want to give a startup an initial offer. At this point, Stepex takes over and checks for:
UK/EU Legal Resident
Income Earning Potential via resume and skillsets
Criminal Records
DTI (Debt to Income Ratio)
If you try to circumvent all the previous procedures and go straight to the Stepex application, your application will automatically be rejected and you’ll need to start over using the proper procedure. And trust us… we know ;)
⛔️ - Rejection
✅ - Acceptance + uploaded onto our portfolio
Any improvement suggestions? Reach out to info@horizan.vc or DM Jonathan Sun on Linkedin or Twitter.